I must agree with Rabbit. The dress code is changing, in France too. And the jeans-sneakers combination is immensely popular with some categories of French youth (well, was not so long ago - surely they have moved on to a new trend), and those youth keep getting older.

But it's still a notch above New York City, and VERY much ahead of the West Coast in terms of dressing up! Or not necessarily dressing up. Just dressing consciously. Being very aware of how one dresses.

Since I've moved to the West Coast for my PhD, my wardrobe has just been getting more and more casual, to the point that it's a problem now that I'm thinking about returning to the business and policy world. It's going to be expensive! The thing about Vancouver I think is that nobody will be snotty with you if you wear sports/outdoors gear to a restaurant, for example, because they can't assume you're not rich and famous. You just might be a rich and famous person coming back from a bit of climbing in Squamish.

On the other hand, I like to wear dresses and nice shoes when there is nice weather. Nothing fancy, but especially if I am going out to enjoy a really nice dinner, it's part of the ritual to dress the part. But I'll never go and wear something uncomfortable, so I guess that limits how fancy I get.